Sunday, July 06, 2008

I must of watched way too many home improvement shows as in a moment of recklessness I embarked on a project to build a table for the garden.Following a very rudimentary sketch I spent about an hour in B+Q looking for the bits I would need. My list went:

Wood

Timber for the sides - 2.4m planed and shaped 38x60mm

Timber for the legs - 2m planed 40x40mm

Plywood for the top (as a base for tiles)

Mosaic tiles

Tiling adhesive/grout

Right angle brackets

Grout spreader

Screws and other sundries I had at home.

So with that all done I started chopping up the wood. The B+Q cutting machine was broken so I had to use my hand saw which meant it was a little more tricky than it needed to be to get the cuts straight but soon I had 4 equal sized bits for the edge and 4 legs.Now I needed to glue and clamp the wood together to get a nice snug fit before I add screws to the mix. Unfortunately I only have 2 clamps so I will have to do it in 2 passes adding a couple of days to the job. With any luck I can still get it finished in time for the house warming. The next thing I have to decide is if I should go get some long brass screws to fix the sides together or recycle some old Ikea bolts - the kind that have a metal thing to go into perpendicular to the bolt.The bodger in me wants to use the Ikea bolts but I only have 4 and I think I might need 8. Then again that might be overkill. I will sleep on it.